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Today's Features

The talent at Foothills Park and Recreation’s Battle of the Bands made for some tough choices for judges and audience members.

Yet in the end, local hard-rock band Keep Kalm edged out second-place band Sunset Summer. Regina Smith, head of Foothills’ arts programs, said it was the closest point differential in the three years of the competition.

The concert, on June 14 at Clement Park’s amphitheater, featured four local middle- and high-school-age bands.

The sound of a fire truck’s siren has drawn countless children to press their faces against the window to catch a glimpse of a big red truck flying by.

“It’s so neat to see the kids faces as they ride the truck,” said Steve Guardado, the organizer of the Mile High Hook and Ladder Club’s Fire Parade and Muster. “And it’s not just kids — 90-year-old grandpas want to ride up top. They’re grinning from ear to ear.”

The melodious bellow of bagpipes and the steady tapping of drums heralded the first concert of the annual Summer Concert Series at the Littleton Museum on Wednesday.

Despite the rain, the Denver and District Pipe Band — comprised of almost 70 bagpipers, drummers and dancers — performed traditional and modern takes on Celtic marches, jigs and reels for 300 attendees.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Littleton Library and Museum, the Summer Concert Series has been free to the public for more than 25 years.

Reading can be its own reward. But it doesn’t hurt to win a prize for reading a book.

The Jeffco Public Library kicked off its Summer Reading Club on Sunday with celebrations across the county. The club gives readers from preschool age through adults a chance to win prizes for finishing books and other activities, said Bethany Candelaria, the library’s marketing manager.

Colorado is home to one of the most diverse butterfly populations in the country, and the beauty of that variety is on full display this summer in South Jeffco.

The Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield opened the new Butterflies at Chatfield exhibit last weekend, a collaborative effort between the gardens and the Butterfly Pavilion. The exhibit is one of a kind in Colorado, featuring only native plants and butterfly species, said Mary Ann Hamilton, the pavilion’s vice president for science and conservation.

A passel of proud papas waited inside Columbine High’s south entrance Saturday — many clutching bouquets — for their favorite ballerinas to emerge from backstage.

“She loves to sing and dance. And she’s always walking around on her tippy-toes,” said Dennis Lux, whose daughter, Madeleine, 5, was among 100 performers at the Foothills Park and Rec ballet program’s performance of “Cinderella.”

Members of the community beekeeping program installed several new hives at the honeybee garden on Saturday. The 16 volunteer beekeepers help manage the gardens’ 17 hives.

“Beekeeping is a blast. … In fact, my family has gotten to the point that if someone asks me about bees, my family starts saying, ‘Oh no, we’re going to be here for hours,’ ”said Marca Engman, who has a hive at Hudson Gardens for the second summer in a row.